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Rafael Ferrer

The Balata River: “In the mountains, there you feel free” (El Rio Balatá: "En las montañas te sientes libre"), 1988

Description

Maker

  • Rafael Ferrer, b. 1933, American

Title

The Balata River: “In the mountains, there you feel free” (El Rio Balatá: "En las montañas te sientes libre")

Year

1988

Medium

Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • oil paint

Supports

  • canvas

Dimensions

182.9 x 244.2 x 2.9 cm (72 x 96 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches) Dimensions verified - Painting inventory project

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed LR:Ferrer 88 VII; signed UL on verso:RF 1988

Type

  • Paintings

Credit

Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art

Object Number

1989.034

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 8

Give and Take
Read Online

Retro/Active

The work of Rafael Ferrer, June 8-August 22, 2010 El Museo Del Barrio, New York

Island Nations

New Art From Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Diaspora
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Island Nations

October 29, 2004 - January 20, 2005

In this painting set in the Dominican Republic, the artist presents the kind of unspoiled tropical landscape that has traditionally epitomized the Caribbean. This romanticized view is reinforced by the work’s subtitle, which reads, “In the mountains, there you feel free,” a line taken from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” (1922). The image seems to exorcize the tensions that exist between the region’s undeniable natural beauty and its rampant urbanization, between its sometimes hard realities and its long-standing promise of earthly paradise.

En esta pintura de un lugar de la República Dominicana, el artista nos muestra el paisaje tropical que tradicionalmente caracteriza al Caribe. Esta visión romantizada se refuerza a través del subtítulo (escrito en el reverso de la pintura): <<En las montañas, ahí te sientes libre>>, tomado de las primeras líneas del poema de T.S. Eliot, La Tierra Perdida. La imagen parece exorcizar las tensiones que existen entre la belleza indudable de la región y la rampante urbanización, entre sus duras realidades y su eterna promesa de un paraíso terrestre.

Down to Earth

June 17 - August 30, 1998

"De Donde Vengo"

March 15 - April 28, 1996

From the Reserve II

June 24 - August 27, 1994

The Moderns

August 6, 1993 - March 13, 1994

Migrations

February 21 - April 26, 1992

The Art of this Century

February 1 - June 2, 1991

Paula and Leonard Granoff Galleries

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is The Balata River: “In the mountains, there you feel free” (El Rio Balatá: "En las montañas te sientes libre") with the accession number of 1989.034. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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